The Clock Tower Guild
by Sage of Eyes
Summary: As an inter-dimensional powerhouse, I truly doubt that Zeltrech would send only ONE person to another dimension. He is far, far, to much an annoying prick to stop at one. Slightly cracky.
1. Chapter 1

The Clock Tower Guild

Or

Why The Zeltrech Excuse Shouldn't Work.

…

A/N: In one of my earlier works that I have yet to update, my route of reincarnating a certain protagonist was questioned. Even though the entire plot device essentially allowed insight into my chosen main character's mindset, many argued that it could have been done better by blaming a certain inter-dimensional vampire.

I pursued that particular avenue of thought whilst burning the manuscript that contained the entire plot of the story, and to be frank it sits as my most popular story despite the fact I will never update it again. Yay.

Four or so months later, I finally decide to look explain all this with the simple statement:

If Zeltrech wanted to f_ck around, do you think that he'd just send _one_ person to another world?

We all know that answer to that.

…

"Good evening," A rather plump and slowly balding man stated whilst dressed in an immaculate suit. Despite his manager's attempts for him to get a toupee and lose weight, this particular man worked his job with the same countenance for thirteen years and quite frankly if the newsman's ex-wife couldn't manage to it, his manager had the chance of a fresh juvenile delinquent in his first jail sentence of getting out of his first shower as a virgin. The man's iron will in his decision was only surmounted by his love of British Cuisine, and we all know such men are beyond any saving. "A massive number of sink holes has been reported to suddenly emerge within the country of Britain, details are forthcoming about casualties, but optimistic reports favor none due to the lack of buildings in the area due to the buyouts of a certain company years ago for future cultivation. There has yet to be any declaration from the company, but it is of general consensus that they will not be pleased by their _sunk _land values."

Had the owner of the particular company in question still been present in the world, the man would've found his career shaken and stirred until he was sent to the division that talked about internet cats. But day of days for this magnanimous and thoroughly disgusting individual, most of the stockholders that would initiated such trickery to gain favor with said CEO was also no longer present in the world. Such things were to go unnoticed for years to come however, but this particular news report, stated by this pudgy man for a mere thirty seconds on national television, would be the only declaration of the sudden loss of most of the Magic Users of Earth.

Needless to say, once this was all found out, the UK made sure to have far better looking newscasters in all its stations, on the off chance that something like it could occur again. Nothing is quite worse than having its most famous citizen in the twenty first century being a balding, chubby man that refused to acknowledge his need for a dashing toupee and a penchant for bad puns.

The man would later go on a diet, don a dashing toupee, and marry someone ten years younger than him and generally flourish under the limelight.

Though this story isn't about him, it was certainly an interesting way to find out that Zeltrech teleported the entirety of the Clock Tower to another dimension, eh?

…

Shirou Emiya had the oddest privilege of being the only magus in the entirety of the Clock Tower to be able to step outside and not suddenly spontaneously combust. Understandably, this was completely by accident and he was harshly reprimanded by a rather large group of people. On an off note, this large group of people was noted, out loud, to be comprised mostly of women by a passerby. Said passerby was noted to be the thirtieth member of the Clock Tower to spontaneously combust in the new atmosphere of the world, mere seconds after the rescue of the twenty ninth by Shirou Emiya.

Testing was done, and with all the resources of the Tower brought to bear, a piece of knowledge almost everyone knew was brought to bear as his ability to be able to step outside and not burst into flames.

Many a jaw dropped when it was realized that because of the decrepit nature of his circuits, Shirou Emiya's body and soul was able to enter the new, heavily magically saturated dimension they now resided within. Much to the chagrin of the only man able to traverse the new world, however, a Sealing Designation was very nearly placed on him on the subject of Prana Study that very nearly went through due to the support of a rather large, mostly female group. It was only due to the intervention of the man himself, and a rather rapt speech on the matter of exploring their new dimension that convinced the entire group, that saved the young man from a lifetime of Prana experiments.

Though the speech didn't stop a certain heiress from attempting to overfill him with Prana and cause him to spontaneously combust each time he was sent out to gather samples of the atmosphere. It was only until their mutual lover stepped outside, and found herself overcharged with power, that the forced nookies stopped and Shirou Emiya was allowed to traverse the new world as he was required, albeit with a super-human being next to him, but he couldn't exactly complain because he was getting rather sore.

Much to the surprise of every Magus, it was found out that Zeltrech's declaration of sending the entirety of the Clock Tower to a new dimension had not been over stated in the slightest. The two explorers, found and accounted for each and every institution and underground lab on the attributed to the Clock Tower. The number of lands seamlessly mashed together, by the Director of the Clock Tower, atop a massive plateau that went a mile into the sky.

It didn't take long, about three weeks, for the Clock Tower to finally analyze and figure out a method for most of their population to start traversing the new world without being burned to a crisp. Subsequently, this was also the first time Shirou Emiya managed to successfully scale the mile-high piece of earth that the Clock Tower sat upon, and made contact with the very confused inhabitants in the town below.

Much to the surprise of mostly everyone, save Zeltrech since he knew exactly what he was doing, Mage's were common things in this new world and they enjoyed a form of government and utilized their powers to participate in quests commissioned by the mundane governments.

Much to the chagrin of many a Lord, they were prohibited from seceding from the Clock Tower by the ridiculously entertained Director, who was more than interested in spending time in the institution he barely visited the last two millennia, and their dreams of ruling their own, small fiefdoms were crushed.

In the midst of this all, Shirou Emiya should've been able to retire back to his new home and start a restaurant. The restaurant would've undoubtedly been popular given the fact he spent the last five years traversing the globe helping people, and picked up recipe haggling as a hobby. The red-haired man would've cornered the market, and gone on to make the Tohaska family rich once more and lived a happy, tranquil life.

But in the light of the fact that most familiars tended to combust into fireballs due to the massive amounts of magic in the new world, an explorer was still needed, as well as the only being able to converse with the natives thanks to some rather obscure magic, Shirou Emiya was commissioned by Zeltrech himself to traverse the new world under the supervision of his second-in-command.

Needless to say, no one was particularly pleased by this and Zeltrech liked it that way.

…

Shirou Emiya didn't care too much about the clothing that was supposed to protect him from the strong, magical eddies of the new world. The fairly aristocratic clothing was quite eye-catching, and drew the suspicion of locals. Suspicious locals usually led to questions, and questions led to fights, and fights generally led to running through some harsh environment whilst carrying a cute girl on your back with a few dozen monsters after you. The aspiring, young man's thought process could've been contested, but the number of somewhat lewd photo's he had in possession as evidence would've made some men want to gain suspicion of the locals.

The clothing, designed and made in the Clock Tower, was made to the express fact of sealing out the excess magic in the air, and with his decrepit circuitry, Shirou Emiya didn't require it at all. For that matter, neither did his shorter companion, but they both wore it for the excess reason that they couldn't risk not having spares for the third member of their party.

Barthomeloi Lorelei, having more Blue Blood Circuits than Zeltrech himself, would probably explode in contact with the magical environment and ignite the entire forest they were traversing without question. That would lead to inquiries by the local government, and quite frankly inquiries of the local government never ended quite as well as suspicion of the locals. The few times such things occurred out of his control, Shirou Emiya found himself allying with the local resistance group he never knew existed and ending up toppling the local warlord/dictator.

Quite frankly be a waste of time to state all the situations that could end up with Shirou Emiya as the hero of the day, and let's just leave it alone for now.

"Mr. Emiya." The dulcet tones of the strongest mage in existence inquired the very-attentive magus. "How much farther is this village you spoke of?"

Ignoring the fact that the woman who could smash men into atoms basically asked, 'are we there yet?', Shirou Emiya turned to his other companion without hesitation, golden eyes meeting green.

"We are a few miles away." The Servant of the Sword, Arturia Pendragon stated with a nod towards her old master. The old human habits of traversing land on foot was lost to the modern magi, but not to the youthful Once And Future King of Britain. Saber was required more for her cartography skills than her fighting skills which suited the situation in any case, since neither Rin or Shirou wanted it to be known that she was an ancient hero. "Another hour of this pace will be sufficient in getting us there in a timely manner."

"I grow weary of this." The strongest mage present stated with an inflection of irritability. Both her companions knew better than to point this out, and that was doing a remarkably good job of lengthening their chances of surviving while traversing the grounds with her. "I wish to travel faster."

The last statement was a tad petulant, the two swordsmen noted, an eerie feeling of foreboding capturing them as they slowly realized that they had no idea who Barthomeloi Lorelei was beyond her apparent invincibility. The factors of a lavish life filled with the best the world had to offer also came to the minds of the two, and they hoped against all the evidence they were beginning to see that the woman with the ability to destroy entire armies could not possibly be the slightest bit-

"Carry me and hasten this journey, Mr. Emiya." The Queen of Clock Tower, demanded irrefutably, and her order was swiftly followed by said man. Due to the clothing designed in mind of keeping out the rampant magics of the new world, there was little for Shirou Emiya to accidentally grab, and for that he was thankful for the thickness of the coat. "This should do well to alleviate my hampering of our travel."

If the fact was to be said, that carrying her in his arms would hamper his speed in any way, it went unsaid. The case would have been true in the previous world, as Shirou Emiya's circuitry most certainly was not the best and carrying a person whilst traveling under the effects of Reinforcement still needed the expenditure of magic for the weight to be accounted for. As his own clothing wasn't sealed up, as was the case with the other swordsman of the group, his access to magic wasn't bound and he received the only form of magic available in the world through the atmosphere freely.

There were circumstances the group didn't understand (Shirou), never knew about,( Saber), or didn't care about, (Barthomeloi), that was being aggressively debated, studied, and theorized in the many think tanks of Clock Tower. The most widely accepted, yet still hotly debated, answer to this was that Zeltrech did not in fact take the Root of All Magic with them in the inter-dimensional jaunt, leaving their circuits to receive power from the new source of magic in the world.

The new source of magic just so happens to be four times stronger than that of the source that most were understandably used to, and, in short, attempting to access any form of magic from the old world was disastrous due to the simple fact that it blew up in most people's faces due to being quite ludicrously overcharged. In terms that would never be used by any mage of note, it would be the same as attempting to recharge a phone with a charger that had an output four times higher than its receiver could handle. The battery could hold the power, as evidenced from the ludicrous levels of power, but there was a serious overflow that tended to try and enter the body as well, leading to… spontaneous combustion, much to the amusement of the man who caused all of it to occur.

The clothing Lorelei Barthomeloi donned was undoubtedly the best of the prototypes made in mind towards limiting the flow of magic, but it worked with the staple that she mustn't use magic and provide an entrance for a sudden overcharge. Of course this only applied to small things, such as simple reinforcement since the magic that would undoubtedly enter would be far more than what was used, the woman carried by Shirou Emiya was free to use her strongest spells at the merest of her behests and so long as she utilized them in multitudes she never dreamed of beforehand. Where once upon a time the Queen had to use her spells to the utmost efficiency, she was now required to utilized them for as much cost as she could possibly muster.

This fact terrified a large number of the populace of the Clock Tower, and the increasing numbers of supporters for Zeltrech had only increased when she was sent out to investigate the new lands.

Shirou Emiya knew that the woman in his arms had basically been nuclear warhead in the old world, was now, in fact, a delivery system for multiple warheads and he wasn't fond of the thought of her being one of the representatives of Clock Tower.

…

"I do not think she is suitable for this diplomatic mission, Shirou." Saber whispered to said man. Both of them were sitting in the village square, taking care to not draw attention by making themselves inconspicuous. This failed, as both of them expected, but the action was aimed to create a level of empathy with the villagers. The number of mothers shooing away their children, and wives pulling away their husbands made it quite apparent that it was succeeding.

Then came the fact that mere miles away their third party member was clearing out a part of the forest with barely controlled power.

"We were hired to clear away the forest for farmland." Shirou pointed out with no small amount of trepidation. Arguing had never been his strong suit when he was a few years younger, and he certainly didn't get better at it as he grew older. Of course this was his own opinion, and when considering the fact that he could argue with an old king and a rather hard-headed heiress there was little to be said about the fact that he was quite good at arguing his own point, just not when he believed it mattered. "She's being pretty effective at it…"

"Lady Barthomeloi is scaring the villagers out of their wits." His companion stated with no small amount of ferocity, Shirou surmised that it must be because the peasantry of the age reminded her much of her old subjects and she was adamant in protecting them. "There is little to be gained from gaining the fear of villagers, Shirou."

"Well," Shirou scratched the back of his head, taking care not to tip off his wide-brimmed hat. The weather in the new world was rather sunny, almost every day, and the heat of the new sun made cooling clothing a must. The magic swordsman knew a simpler method would be to simply wear less clothing, as the populace seemed to do, but the Clock Tower wanted a sort of dignified approach rather than him traipsing about in his jeans and shirt. "They don't actually seem all too surprised, or scared about what she's doing."

Shirou pointed at the gathering of cheering crowds on the numerous balconies of the town, judging by the direction they were cheering on the toppling of trees in the distance.

"Maybe they react differently to magic around here?" Shirou surmised halfheartedly, noting the number of people running towards the event. "I'd hazard that with all the guilds they have, they must be pretty used to magic enough that they see it like entertainment in some ways." The red-haired man gave a shrug as Saber huffed, slightly lost for words.

"Mister Emiya! Lady Saber!" A voice cried out suddenly, over the din of thunderous fallings of trees and the cheers of the populace. A portly fellow wearing a top hat and clothing befitting a stereotypical dress of a mayor reached them, breathlessly. "You must come quickly! The guards have sighted the monsters of the forest congregating to assault our town!"

Ever the pragmatist Saber inquired, "Why are they doing such things?" as Shirou immediately stood upright from his seat. The look Saber gave him easily got him back to sitting position, shifting the entirety of the dealing only to herself. Had it occurred with any other person, Shirou would've thought that the entire thing was planned so that he could've not messed up the negotiations, but with Saber he knew that it came naturally.

"The monsters know that when we cut down forests that our men aren't ready for battle." The mayor pleaded, clasping hands together in worry. Shirou couldn't place whether the man was acting or not, so he did his level best to stop himself from leaping to the town's defense immediately. Needless to say, he wasn't very good at it, and it was only Saber's force of will that made it so that the mayor did not see Shirou's inner struggle. "We need your help to drive them back!"

"All your men are currently free from their assigned duties." Saber swiftly pointed out, "They are not cutting down trees, so our aid should not be required to handle this matter." The master diplomat leveled a rather cruel smile at the mayor, and Shirou had to remind himself that Saber would sooner die that let innocent blood be spilled. "Our assigned contract stipulated only the cutting down of trees, not the defense of the entire town against an army of monsters."

The mayor paled lightly, and Shirou pondered on whether he was thinking about sending his men to fight, or the amount of money that will be charged to ascertain their aid. Saber had managed to haggle the clearing of the forest into a payment of a thousand of the world's currency for every ten trees cleared forest cleared, up from a mere three hundred. When considering the fact a good meal, for Shirou, was a hundred of the world's currency, the amount was quite substantial.

When considering the fact that Saber also planned on taking all the lumber to the summit of the plateau the Clock Tower was situated in, possibly not even to the knowledge of the mayor himself, Shirou frankly pitied the poor man and could only feel worse as Saber began to haggle the price for every monster slain at his has hands.

Quite frankly, Saber was staying hidden by simply playing herself off as a below average mage, like himself and carrying around cartography equipment on her back. Shirou, Rin, and Saber all agreed it would be for the best that she still hide her true nature from the Clock Tower, and only appear as a resource that was desperately needed, which was in all cases, a barterer, cartographer and an expert in surmounting written agreements.

The new world will never see her coming, and Shirou rightly feared for the ruling monarchs of this world.

Still Shirou didn't exactly want to listen to haggling while there were people in danger, so he hazarded that he should do something. Since he didn't particularly like his odds of no angering his companion, he pondered on what a conniving, sneaky, underhanded person would do in the situation to get what he wanted.

So what would Rin do… Shirou Emiya pondered, as the roars of beasts emanated in the distance.

"Mister," A small child tugged on the hem of his coat. The child's eyes were wide with happiness and elation, thoroughly unaware of the dangers that was being discussed. "Can you carry me so I can see the magic?-"

Shirou's eyes lit up, mind whirring according to the mindset he had chosen. The little girl fell a sudden chill go down her spine, should she have been asked to describe the moment, she would've said she saw an unholy light within the eyes of Shirou Emiya.

Cute child, theoretical danger to town, Saber's code of honor: Exploit ruthlessly!

In her lab in the Clock Tower, Rin Tohaska felt the need to punch someone. She made the mistake of punching the wall.

The swordsman quickly picked up the little girl, who was now thinking along the lines of 'maybe this wasn't such a good idea…' and presented her right into the faces of the haggling politicians.

Needless to say, both of them were surprised.

"Shirou." Saber stated slowly, making gestures with her hands. The same gestures were used when Saber was facing a losing argument against Rin, Shirou took this as a good sign. "Put the child down."

"…" The mayor was speechless, maybe it was because of the fact the child's foot was in his mouth or some more perverted fantasy, but he was most certainly speechless.

Needless to say, despite the fact his mindset was currently thinking line Rin Tohaska, he most certainly lacked the grace and eleganc-

Pfffttt….

Oh let's just forget that part.

"Look at this child, Saber." Shirou emphasized his argument by shaking the subject, something both the mayor and the child didn't particularly welcome. Though both of them could agree that his method of argument was rather well put. "Look at how afraid she is… Look at the fear in her eyes."

The blond knight attempted to speak, but as Shirou lined up his own pleading face next to the child's own, she merely pressed the bridge of her nose as she shook her head.

Shirou pumped up his fist as he saw the gestures, they were usually followed capitulation and/or undressing, and since Saber was far more prudish than Rin, Shirou doubted that it was the latter.

(In the Clock Tower)

"How long is she going to keep muttering 'baka' under her breath?"

"Don't question her methods, it's probably an oriental concentration spell."

(Back Outside)

"Go ahead, Shirou." Saber sighed, slightly mourning on the loss of income due to her lover's doing. Though she knew well enough, that if she played her cards right, it wouldn't be a problem for her to exploit the oddity that had just been displayed. "I'll keep talking to the mayor while you have your fun."

Perfect amounts of implications in that last statement, a mixture of connotations to the lack of sanity of her lover, his large sums of power, and her control over him. Even if the Mayor before her was an imbecile he would've picked up on the fact that she had Shirou at her whims, needless to say that if he wasn't in both cases he would be far more free with his currency.

So the birth of the Clock Tower guild began that day, with its three foremost members all doing as they will do for years to come: scaring the native populace of many towns, and having their sanity doubted.

As depressing as it is to reveal, this made them quite a bit more normal and far more preferable than quite a large amount of the other guilds. Not that they would mind the competition.

…


	2. Chapter 2

The Clock Tower Guild

…

Disclaimer: I do not make money from this.

…

A/N: You're all terrible people, anytime I make something serious it flops. When I do slapstick comedy, it's a hit. COULD I HAVE NOT BEEN TOLD THIS SOONER?!

…

The device before the eyes of Shirou Emiya received the same look of reverence from the redhead as a prophet would to his cult.

"The simplicity and ingenuity is amazing, but at the same time I cannot believe that I could have ever thought about it." The magus gushed, earning sighs form his compatriots, "The culture of this world is utterly superior to our won in every way, we cannot hope to match even this simple work of art!"

"It's an apron." The strongest mage in the group stated testily, tapping a foot on the cobblestone streets with her arms across her chest. "With pockets."

"Exactly!" The magus insisted, "I've been to every country in our old world, but this is the first time I've seen something like this." Shirou nodded gravely, placing the item into the satchel he wore. "These people should be treated with caution, if they could come up with something of such ingenuity."

"I do not see how this clothing could attest to their intelligence, Shirou.' Saber protested demurely, not in the slightest appearing as if she was interested in pursuing the quarrel should it escalate. Shirou had a feeling she didn't want to risk another loss in arguments, given his newfound mastery of the Tohaska Quarreling Technique. "Would you mind enlightening us to your knowledge?"

Lorelei gave a small scoff, placing her own items into her expanded satchel. The magic behind the bags of holding were one of the first to be successfully replicated, and given the expense of making one in the new world they were being mass produced and sold with a little help from industrial knowledge. The team no longer required to take missions, which allowed them to explore as they pleased, and buy what they pleased.

Not that they didn't take missions anymore, the cartographer of the group insisted on forming relations with the leaders of the many villages by doing missions free of charge. Lorelei noted that those villages were practically funding the entirety of the Clock Tower as they bought and sold the many products being created.

Still, they bought items and sent them back to the Clock Tower as a side mission, never hurts to apply low-cost creation methods to high-quality products, the amount of currency flowing was enough to fund any project and acquire anything they wished. To say that the mages in the Clock Tower were pleased would be an understatement.

"With this apron," Shirou stated with utmost belief, "I will no longer need to place my kitchenware on the tabletop, and thus have more room for ingredients."

"Hardly a world-altering item." Lorelei give a small scoff, taking care to break the wrist of a man who attempted to grope her. She made sure his flattery was known by only breaking his wrist, it was nice to know she was still attractive after all and no one was idiotic enough to do so when they knew who she was. "It's importance is rather-"

"Underplayed!" The cartographer in their group suddenly declared, displaying a furious passion in her eyes that Lorelei did not believe could exist in the demure creature. "I express my utmost apologies in questioning your motives, Shirou!"

"I knew you'd see it my way, Saber!" The young man gushed happily, something which made the heiress of the Barthomeloi family suddenly gain the urge to hit him. The alien feeling was enough to make her pause her thoughts on interrogating the woman whom she had thought was on her side. "With more space for food, I can cook another course, or even just more of the same kind! You and Lady Barthomeloi can probably eat your fills the next time we get to an inn!"

Ignoring the look on the young man's face, Lorelei began walking faster to separate herself from the duo gushing about what food should be cooked.

An inn won't be found if they just stood around after all.

…

Rin Tohaska was a woman of many talents. The foremost expert in her field, and student of Zeltrech she enjoyed a certain spot in the new order rising to control the rising Clock Tower. Most of the Lords and councils were left behind in the old world, probably planned by Zeltrech if anyone asked her, and the few that remained were professors and not researchers.

Her experience in foreign nations, and a major in history at the college she used to go to for citizenship in the UK, made her an important part of the new system seeking to research and acclimate to the new environment.

To be perfectly frank, both those words could be replaced with the far simpler statement of: 'Exploit ruthlessly' and they would be doing the exact same thing in many regards.

Rin Tohaska lounged on her chair, looking proudly upon her creations on the side window. Massive artificial crystals, hung in the air gathering the latent magics in the air, powering the machinery that were sending the tiny new nation into superpower status. There was no small amount of pride in the girls frame, especially when considering the steps she had to go through to reach such success.

And as with many other laws that governed the fate of many people, a certain one prescribed that under no circumstance should a Tohaska ever, ever be allowed to luxuriate in success.

To be quite frank it should've happened sooner.

The door to the office suddenly burst open, the double doors swinging on their hinges as the man in charge barged in his cloak swirling behind him, despite the lack of wind in the contained atmosphere of the facility.

"Rin!" The two millennia old man declared mightily, making the heiress freeze as she reached for the jewel on her bracelet. "The rulers of this world have demanded that I send an envoy to speak with them, and seeing as you've done so well to utterly debase their entire economy I thought that you'd do the best to negotiate for us!"

With speed bereft of his power, Zeltrech suddenly appeared next to his apprentice kicking open the window she had been looking through without the slightest hesitation. Rin was about to scream, expecting to start burning alive, but looked up when she realized she wasn't extra-crispy just yet.

Though her heart sank when she saw what was in Zeltrech's hand.

"I call it the Kaleido-stick!" The man declared proudly brandishing a scepter with a circle situated at the very top. Had it been merely such a thing, there would definitely not have been a single problem, but within the circle was a gaudy yellow star and wings sprouted from the circle. The shaft was a gaudy pink, that seemed to sear itself into Rin's eyes. "This one is Ruby and she should be able to protect you from all the enemies you've made!"

The old man pressed the scepter into the young woman's hands, and she exploded into light. Rin swore her eardrums popped twice, consecutively if that made any sense, but she knew better than to swear by anything being impossible with her master around.

"Hmmm." She suddenly noted the sound her master was making. "It seems that the Kaleido-stick has had my orders for Classical-Victorian corrupted by the articles of clothing I had it analyze from the scouting expedition."

As befitting someone of her importance, Rin Tohaska had a full-body mirror located in the corner of her room, right next to her desk. There was a bevy of protective measures that the mirror employed, and several could kill an average man in less than a second, but that wasn't of great importance at the moment, only its primary use could provide.

Red boots led into red stockings that touched her thigh, but did nothing to even attempt to reach her near-scandalous skirt an inch of skin between said apparel and leg-wear. The skirt seemed to puff outward, with frilly laces underneath, while simultaneously doing nothing to hide a decent panty-shot should she not be careful. To her dismay, the skirt was connected to a white bodice that went up to her chest with nothing underneath. To her slight satisfaction, a cross between a vest and a waistcoat without sleeves clipped neatly up to her neck, red in color and with gold along the center.

Her arms were covered with red cloves, going up to her bicep, before mimicking the display of her stocking and leaving her shoulders bare, save for the-

"Why is my cape cut in half?!" The brunette heiress yelled shrilly, and the only man present in the room took on a thinking expression.

"I don't exactly know, but I do have a feeling it may have something to do with your lack of wings." The old man assured the girl, glad that she was moving so forward. Many others would question how their clothes were changed so hastily, but his new promising student questioned the important things: the quality of the new clothes that suddenly replaced her old ones in a brilliant flash of light. Tohaska Rin was most assuredly going places, and he gave a content huff before picking up the girl by the scruff of her collar, noting the twin ponytails that her hair was now in. "Best be going though, I've preset the location of this country's capital, so just do your best in negotiating!"

"I can fly to the capital?!" Rin Tohaska yelled in fear.

Zeltrech noted the skipping of inadequate questions such as 'how' or 'that doesn't work' or 'do you suppose I can practice' and noted the as his student inquiring about the energy involved in the flight and maybe even the time needed to get there.

Had he been a millennia younger, he would've wept in astonishment about the fact that he had such a student. Being the jaded man he was, he forced the tears back into his eyes with a simple thought.

Because Zeltrech can do such things, do not question it.

"A few hours at most." The millennia old vampire stated with a gentle scuffling of his student's hair as he held her out the window. "Remember, if you can't get a good deal, just blow them away! That's the best catalyst in the world!"

Then he threw her, a clean pass through two pylons and off the cliff edge. The old man had quite the arm.

The Rin-Missile streaked through the sky, and not a single person noticed.

Just like always to be quite frank.

"Lord Zeltrech!" A rather stern looking man stumbled into the room, wearing green robes with purple vestments, he smelled of cigars and Zeltrech regarded him slight interest. The young lad was nowhere near the level of his current apprentice, but he would do for now. "I must implore you to return to your post, many accords need to be struck amongst the populace or we will fall into turmoil!"

It had been quite some time since he'd trained a leader of the people, he'd been entertaining himself with sending humble young men to all-girls magical schools the last few decades so he hazarded it shouldn't be a waste of time, especially with the current circumstances.

"What's your name, boy?" Zeltrech inquired, and the man seemingly gathered himself within a millisecond and was now in a steep bow.

"I am Lord El-Melloi the secon-"

"None of that drivel!" Zeltrech barked, enjoying the look of confusion and fear in his new subject's eyes. This would most certainly be fun, the old Lords had been quite the boring traditionalists last he remembered, and he didn't want that for this new one. "Your real name boy, the council of Lords are broke and I'm keeping it that way."

The young man's upper lip quivered for a moment.

"My name is Waver Velvet, sir."

"Well your parents most assuredly expected you to have enormous amounts of talents to stick you with a name like _that._"

…

There were plenty of things to do in the new world, and quite a few intrigued Emiya Shirou quite a bit. Needless to say, it was his opinion that if a world with magic had been boring, the universe should decidedly try and experiment for a fair bit, but he was glad to see that wasn't the case.

There were new swords to play around with, monsters to try out his new swords on, nice people to meet, bad people to try out his new swords on (though there was rather large lack of those) and a curious lack of people to kill that he found refreshing.

Oh and new animals and vegetables to cook, that was a must. These people were absolute geniuses to incorporate magic into cookery, and the few times he'd splurged into his massive budget he'd always been amazed at what people ate in this world.

They had _fire_-flavor! The food was on fire, but didn't burn! It somehow didn't burn his mouth, but he found the taste… well… exactly like fire! Their ice cream was literally ice, and some mud-pies were dusted with some sort of flavoring he could most definitely identify as mud!

Oh course he expected there to be some things he didn't like, but for that matter he didn't even eat that much anyways. The two woman he was with were as passionate about food as he was about cooking food, so after he tasted something he didn't hesitate to give it to his teammates.

Truly, they seemed to endless pits in the regards of food, but considering the fact that both of them were superhuman, he doubted anyone would say they didn't require more sustenance. Pushing his own body to its new limits strained him more than enough to necessitate a larger intake of calories, but he merely ate the same amount as a regular mage would have.

Saber and Lorelei, however, made the red-haired culinary artist thankful of the new satchels they –ahem- reverse engineered. Shirou estimated the amount of food they require on a weekly basis would need a semi-truck to pull along. The prospect of feeding everyone should they leave the Clock Tower would probably cause no small amounts of food shortages in the relative area, had they still lived within the old world.

In this new world, he saw cows grow to full size, and two-headed, sheep the size of small cars that regrew wool instantly. Shirou had taken up inquiring about the animals at every village, and was happy to see they were common stock.

Common stock meant that, at most, they'd maybe have to threaten only a single man to part with his land and settle the Clock Tower. One man for animals and another as a simple produce grower. They didn't have to be men, of course, since he saw quite a bit of women growing crops, but a male was always better for starting families given the oddities of mages.

Rin's relations with him and Saber was surprisingly well-accepted, especially when Rin produced both his and Saber's pedigrees. Shirou didn't even know he had a pedigree, but he was rather flattered at the fact that he was recognized as exceptional for a first generation magus. There would be no shortage of partners for the (un)-lucky man they managed to hire/threaten into the job.

As it stood, Shirou was the man in charge of procuring ingredients and supplying the Clock Tower with sustenance. Saber was doing quite well in procuring materials for construction, given the detailed plan to undermine the economy of the world by technological means, written by their shared lover.

And Lorelei was the trump card that could wipe out ten square kilometers in a channeled five second spell.

The magic in the new world was supposedly learned in a similar sense of master and apprentice, as was with a few in the Clock Tower, but there were things called Mage Shops that sold common spells that nearly anyone could employ without training. Shirou Emiya felt that those particular places would be under heavy scrutiny, if not outright hated once word of them spread in the Clock Tower..

Understandably, the woman who utilized E-rank spells to utter perfection so that they could destroy entire rooms, took it upon herself to learn every single spell available.

Shirou Emiya was somewhat enamored with swords and new-fighting styles, Saber quite liked turning every village they met into a fief attached to the Clock Tower, but Lorelei's drive to master every magic she came across was a tad overbearing even in the eyes of the man who would risk getting hit by a car to save a squirrel.

A fist sized, fireball spell that even Shirou managed to cast was perfected to the point that it cost nearly nothing to cast, yet suddenly had the volume of a boulder. Shirou never doubted the statement that she was the most powerful magus living, but he quite liked having that small shred of doubt that was banished from existence when the woman held a fiery ball of flame the size of a small house above her head. The entirety of the valley that he had been fighting monsters within, was now a reminiscent of a small volcanic caldera. It did not help that the simplicity of the new spells allowed the woman to cast as many as she pleased with her enormous reserves of power.

Shirou doubted anyone could've managed to take that attack on, unless there was something as bullshit as immunity to any kind of fire in this world. There were plenty of ways he imagined such things could be stopped, but that involved a few month of preparation and he doubted it could stop a second attack.

"Shirou!" Saber suddenly called, bringing the red-head out of his stupor, "We have found something that is of high priority! Hasten your selection of ingredients!"

Knowing saber quite well, Shirou knew what her last sentence entailed as he walked to the man at the counter.

"Place everything you are currently selling into this bag, I will give you…" Shirou began to haggle for everything the man owned, feeling slightly akin to a robber, if not for the fact he was going to be parting with a large sum of money.

…

The new world was decidedly quite hostile, and not only because of the large number of rabid monsters quite willing to kill men and take women for themselves, but the environment itself.

"We're only two miles away from a temperate climate," Lorelei noted dryly, pulling up the hood of the thick coat she had Shirou procure for herself and Saber once she acquired the information of the area. AS she expected, the demand was met but not exceeded as on of their party was understandably freezing in the weather. "This is most definitely of magical means, does your senses state other wise?"

"I-I don't smell any mages around," Shirou chattered, holding himself around the chest and shivering. Had it not been for the fact that he thought her request to buy coats had been a mere joke, she would've felt… well not sorry… slightly bad? "So this is natural." The young man snapped his finger tips and an orb of flame began to hazily obit him. "Oh thank the root that worked…"

"It was very ignorant of you to ignore the fact that this team's leader ordered for winter clothing Shirou." Arturia admonished him, making Lorelei nod in concurrence with the other females apt thoughts on the manner. The Queen quite liked this oddly named girl, and was quite glad to have met a kindred spirit. "As the man in charge of supplies of this group you would do well to take initiative and take matters into your own hands. "

"I'll make sure to remember that." Shirou stated with a sigh, and a few more snaps led to three orbs of flame orbiting his form. Another aspect that Lorelei approved heartily of his person, quite oddly she didn't dislike the assignment as much as she had estimated, mostly due to the fact her two companions were the sort of people she approved of.

Deciding that the man learned his lesson, she immediately quenched the insignificant flames surrounding him and began to take off her cloak.

"Won't you be cold- huurk"

Shirou Emiya was very aware of the fact that he no longer felt the cold, but given the fact he was now covered with a cloak with a walking-weapon-of-mass-destruction wrapped around him, he expected that to be a side-effect.

"We best not waste time," the girl in his arms stated. "Continue according to the map we have been given."

Not bad company at all, if Lorelei Barthomeloi could say so herself.

…

If someone said to Arturia Pendragon, that she would be spending her life in another world hunting for treasure, she would have had Merlin locked up in the dungeon for around a week.

The crafty old geezer may not have been quite as powerful as the inter-dimensional Wizard Marshall, but he was tricky beyond compare. Warnings of such kind was received on a weekly basis, and Merlin, as a result, was jailed on a weekly basis. The old wizard's cell was in the highest tower, and just so happened to become his customary home whenever he decided to actually stay in the castle.

Here she was though, in another land hunting for treasure and she couldn't even blame it on Merlin this time around.

Quite odd that.

"Do you see anything where you are, Arturia?" Shirou called from the other side of the immense stone fortress, she hefted a rather large rock out of the way of a cave system and closed it when an arrow whizzed past her face.

"Nothing to be found over here." She called out deftly, minding the pillars that held up the ceiling. "The Wyvern Blade seems to no longer be in this place."

"I doubt that." The newer member of their party reminded Arturia mostly of the Ladies-In-Waiting that served Guinevere, in her utmost seriousness of any situation. "The monsters that Emiya had to kill in order for our access into this room denotes contrary to your beliefs."

"They were hardly a challenge." Arturia swiftly rebutted. "They could not have been the guardians of such magnificent treasure."

"Well I'm fairly sure that the creators of this dungeon did not take into account the fact I can send swords to skewer things." Shirou interrupted mild, quickly earning glares from the two arguing women. "I'll be quite now." he promised dutifully, mere seconds after ward, taking care to study the rubble within the room with rapt attention.

"As ungainly his interruption may have been," Lorelei spoke with a slight glare in the direction of the man in context. "His point is valid, those monsters would most certainly have been a challenge for an average magus of this world."

"We cannot simply think that it is here merely because of the fact that it was still guarded." Saber rebutted, taking another cursory glance around the room. "The tales the merchant drafted around the blade was of immense proportions, and I would hazard that a skilled man or woman would have been able to retrieve it with no problems at all."

There was a sudden thunderous sound, that drew the attention of both Arturia and Lorelei in the direction of the only male in the group.

In his hands was a handle of sorts, and before him the wall began to sink to the ground.

All three became quite aware of the stench that suddenly pervaded the room.

"Lorelei." Arturia questioned as she slowly backed away from the acidic stench beyond the door. "Why was the blade sealed away, despite its power and importance?"

"It was the only weapon able to subdue the Virulent Wyrm," The noble stated, "It was buried along with the being, away from magic, to stop it from rising again."

"Did the legend say that the Wyvern Blade _killed_ the beast in question?"

A deep roar echoed from the depths of the door.

"I guess not."

…

All things considering, the group was in a situation between bad and terrible. Terri-bad, if you will. Lorelei couldn't attack in the fewer of crushing them all to death, and Saber couldn't attack because she was hiding her identity, and also for the fear for crushing them all to death.

Giant underground temples do not make for good battlegrounds for people whose attacks could destroy castles, that was just common sense.

Not that their enemy had anything to ponder about that, the corrosive acid it was spitting everywhere had a rather nifty effect of not affecting the substance keeping the ceiling and few tons of snow out so it had free reign within the cavernous walls.

In the heat of the moment, it befell Shirou Emiya, the absolute weakest of the entire group to slay a beast that was locked up for centuries within a tomb and simply came out angry.

Sadly, he had just as much of a chance to destroy the surrounding area and kill themselves just as much as the other two, the only concrete difference being… well… he had the compassion necessary to actually offer the thing a fair fight.

There were plenty of ways to go about fighting the winged terror streaking about the high ceiling, most of which would collapse the ceiling in the process and make the entire strategy moot point, so Shirou naturally ignored those. Shirou noted, however, the rocks that were being dislodged by the beast with it's small wingspan, and he wondered if those slowly falling pebbles could hold give him enough traction.

Complex physics that shouldn't be described due to poor narrative standards went through his brain, and he decided he couldn't actually use the pebbles as stepping stones, but he needed to reach the dragon that was flying irritatingly in the center of the large room and away from the walls.

The hypothesized technique met Shirou Emiya's usual problem solving method, and Sir Francis Bacon rolled into his grave and wept at the destruction of the logical method.

One may ask why this was the matter, but Shirou Emiya was not a fellow of common sense. Shortly before some seriously traumatizing events that led to him having two girlfriends and in his current situation, the young man had a talk with his future self that more or less allowed him a semblance of self-acknowledgment. A whole host of other things occurred, and the genuine methods of Shirou Emiya in the heat of battle could be summed up with a single world: swords.

A whole shit ton of swords, mountains of swords.

Admittedly, he could have made a tower of swords to reach the enemy, but his mind was still rifling through the old plan of jumping on pebbles and an unholy amalgamation came forth. The sort of which would become depressingly common given the future contact with foes of equal nonsensical styles of fighting.

On this particularly bad Tuesday, Shirou Emiya was going to do something particularly stupid… again.

…

The mighty Virulent Wyrm was pretty pissed.

Admittedly he had eaten a few villages worth of people, but he didn't quite think that necessitated a jail time of five hundred years with a dagger stuck in his spine. The Wyrm was just trying to bulk up for mating season, anyway, even the humans should know how important getting the right mate was for a Virulent Wyrm. There was maybe one girl for every three guys, terrible situation, only made worse by the fact that each one was more likely to eat you than mate with you.

The literal choice in the matter of mating for the Virulent Worm was: stay alive… or get laid.

Seeing as he was pretty pissed, this particular worm liked his chances of getting laid, and getting locked up in stone for a few centuries was just dammed overkill in his opinion. Couldn't they have done it _after_ he got laid? Horror stories of pregnant females were rampant in his generation, mostly due to the rather disparate lack of a previous male generation and the number of male skeletons in the nests they grew up in.

Oh, it seems that one of those magic users are going for a beeline for the walls.

Good tactic, really, but there was a reason he was keeping a tight circle in the middle. The Wyrm knew quite well that at the height of a jump, tended to slow down and getting hit with thick poison at that moment was the best way to make them fall to the ground. That tactic usually terrified other mages, and they tended to run away, he could already taste the sweet above ground air-

Wait, that dagger in my skin is new.

Where did he get that giant sword?

Why is there swords appearing in midair and shooting towards me?

How in the nine-hells is he riding a sword towards me?!

And thus, the Virulent Wyrm's life ended quite unlike most of the enemies of the group.

Lorelei Barthomeloi's enemies would have thoughts along the lines of: 'Oh sh-'. Seeing as she would undoubtedly be the main force of the group, this would be the main thought of any enemy of the group.

Arturia Pendragon's future enemies would have thoughts along the route: 'Where did she keep that?" A decidedly frequent occurrence when someone attempts to take the Once and Future King of Britain hostage.

Shirou Emiya's enemies, as most of his prior enemies in the world would think along the lines of:

"What the flying fuck?"

Quite apt considering the new tricks the young man was learning.

…


	3. Chapter 3

The Clock Tower Guild

…

Disclaimer: No monetary gain is made in the production and post-production of this fic. If you paid a wooden penny to see this, you were bamboozled.

…

Rin Tohsaka was a people person. The you woman had charisma in spades, was educated in nearly all arts of fine etiquette and had a social countenance world leaders would kill for. She spent most of her life developing herself in the mindset that her future would be filled with adversity and prejudice, both because of her ethnicity and gender.

It could be quite simply stated as: Rin Tohsaka was strong independent woman who don't need no man. The author wishes to question why he simply didn't place that as the beginning sentence, but merely moves on wallowing in self-disappointment.

Despite years of training to work underneath and for pompous pricks, Rin Tohsaka was feeling more and more extremely irritated as the man before her continued to bluster and insult her.

"Who do you think you are to command ME to do something?!", "I am the king and you better relinquish your ability to craft items of such magnitude!", "Ten percent of sales!? I can have it all!" etc. etc. etc.

The young woman clad in an outfit that was embarrassingly comfortable and frankly debasing to walk about in, was starting to think on the reason why she wasn't quite as able to deal you the prick in front of her as she usually did. Large numbers of mages were quite happy to insult and belittle her before the dimensional transfer. The few friends she had were tenuous at best, but at least she always had-

Ah that's why.

Rin stood up gaining the attention and apprehension of the King opposite of her in the large table. The guards in the room tensed as she raised her elbow-length gloved hands.

"I am currently sexually deprived and that is making me very illogical at the moment." Rin declared with a sickly smile on her face. A hand was raised and she turned her gaze toward the man sitting to the right of the king. Judging by his dress and the lecherous look on his face… "None of you are allowed to touch me either, so I'm going to put an ultimatum down."

"You cannot simply-" The king blustered, twirling his beard in a way that Rin somehow saw as apprehensive.

"Yes I can, simply." The self-claimed woman who lacked nookies declared. Yes plural, she had a harem and she used it dammit. "Because I can level this entire place easily."

"Hah!" The king laughed in a way that decidedly aggravated the brown-haired magus. The bearded, obese man gripped the shoulder of the man Rin had detected earlier that day. The robe-clad, hooded man had not said a word the entire time. "My court magus will defeat you single handedly! He was on his way to becoming an A-rank mage when-"

Rin crossed the distance in a second, and backhanded the hooded man through the window he sat next to.

"Oh my got she killed Kenway!" One of the guards yelled, decidedly aghast as he fixed his metal cap.

"You bitch!" Declared one of the more guards, his metal cap decidedly more greenish in tint than the rest.

Rin ignored them in favor of standing on the table in front of the king. The monarch was decidedly red faced.

There was a slight cough that gained the attention of everyone in the room despite the screams emanating from the crowd below.

"Young Miss…" The treasurer smoothly stated as he decidedly began to pay more attention to smoothing out his lapels. "Your underclothing is showing."

The retinue of advisors and royals expected something akin to embarrassment to form upon the girl, and a stammered apology. They would've expected her to return to her seat and for her to state her ultimatum and kingdom life can simply continue.

But they were men, and since when did anything happen as expected when a wardrobe malfunction was pointed out?

Rin Tohsaka's face colored red not in embarrassment, but in another feeling entirely.

Denizens of another dimension, meet Rin Tohsaka Tsundere of Mass Destruction

…

Zeltrech wiped a tear from his eye as Sapphire showed him what her sister was currently doing. The man's amazing ability to withhold tears unable to stop the flow due to the pride he felt for his student.

Merely the first week with unlimited power and she was already taking down despotic rulers in alternate dimensions. The inter-dimensional traveler could hardly believe his luck in finding such a gem in the rough concerning this girl.

Of course there was something concerning about that fact as well.

"She'll need someone to clash against since she doesn't have good enemies like me." Zeltrech stated with absolute certainly. No one would've pointed out how idiotic the idea was, and it wasn't just because there was no one present besides the disembodied scepter. "Sapphire, I want you to find a wielder and give her the same objectives as I give Rin?"

The star encircled by gold and with ribbons for wings fluttered about her creators head.

"Would they not be prudent enough to work together if such things were to occur?" The mystic code questioned the people in question, not the person making the plan. The device knew exactly who her creator was and wasn't about to toe any lines around him.

The great Zeltrech tilted his head slightly to the right. The millennia old man's head met the gaze of his device.

Then he began to chuckle, which turned into outright laughter in mere seconds.

"Oh that was quite good." The old man patted his creation, something Sapphire decided was carefully constructed for her to like. It felt far too good to be natural. "I've doubted that you'd utilize your 'sarcasm' coding so well, but it's nice to know I haven't lost my touch in those regards."

"Okay." Sapphire agreed, deciding to go about the wiser course of action and simply do as her creator did. "Do you have anyone you want to request for me start from?"

The old man gave a shrug.

"Why don't you go around the jewel users first, Rin always said she had plenty of friends and acquaintances around them." The vampiric man rubbed his chin thoughtfully, before snapping his fingers. "I have it! Rin always talks about that Edelfelt girl all the time! They're best of friends! They'll work together and drive each other to new and greater heights!"

The same Edelfelt that Rin launched attacks upon on a daily basis, Sapphire mused. "Alright."

Seems legit.

…

"Over the river and through the woods, to the dragon's cave we go~" Barthomeloi Lorelei sang, surprisingly pleasant. "The horse knows the way, carrying the ballista-e. Through fire and stone!"

"That's not how I remember the song." Shirou mused as he kept a tight rein on the wagon. Treasure hunting was good in hindsight, but not being able to fit something in their bags of holding required the need for a wagon. As such they acquired a wagon, and then the wagon required a driver that wouldn't drive the horses to their deaths. Needless to say there was only one person present of that caliber.

The heiress gave a small huff and the abrupt singing ended, settling the atmosphere back to the grunts of poor animals. Shirou was glad to have splurged for the new wagon, as the one he'd first thought of buying would've added rusty axels to the mix.

A dainty, yet powerful elbow hit him in the ribs causing the young swordsman to nearly double over.

The glare his eyes met would've burned the souls of many, but Shirou Emiya had been with Rin Tohaska for many years so it had no effect. Still, the glare pointed out something that escaped his notice and he decided to remedy it.

"But it's nice!" He declared mostly to the woman sitting behind him.

"I would prefer a monster besides a dragon, but it is quite the song." Saber demurred, not even looking up from the chart she was diligently outlining. Lessons of the past allowed her to do so with but parchment and coal, but the modern tools provided allowed her to enjoy her new job rather than dislike it.

"I see." The heiress probably gave one of her all-too serious nods at that point. The two at the front could swear that the sharp nod could crush a man's skull. "Over the river and through the woods, under the clear moon we go~ The dogs bark, and the scouts hark~ As our hunt treads by~"

There was suddenly a loud bang and Shirou felt something impact the side of his head. The young magus caught the projectile as it fell, reaching up to teach the forming bruise. Well that's what he gets for enjoying a nice drive it seems.

"We have you surrounded!" A voice suddenly called out, and numerous clicks resounded throughout the densely forested trail they were travelling on. "Leave your wagon or the next shot won't miss."

"It didn't miss!" Shirou declared irritably, rubbing the irritating bruise. "What do you say about that you jerks!?"

"Nice work on that slight profanity Shirou." Saber stated on his side, "You didn't even stammer that time."

"Indeed, you are improving nicely." Lorelei stated as she slowly peaked out of the wagon. A noticeable frown came upon her face when she noticed what was in Shirou's hand, and the rapidly purpling spot on his brow. The young woman deftly took the small ball from his hand and retreated back into the shadows. "I will handle them shortly."

The two at the driver's seat exchanged a look, and they all too well what that statement meant.

Make them flee, or they will all suffer.

Both sword practitioners knew that the lives of the people before them lay in their hands.

"I believe it is your turn to dissuade the rabble." Saber stated, not even bothering to stop detailing the ravine they had passed an hour prior. The once and future king pulled out a stopwatch and pressed the start key. "Do your best."

Shirou would've frowned, if not for the fact that would've wasted time. Saber managed to dissuade the last group in two minutes flat, and his best had been three. Lorelei started to get antsy at five and started destroying large amounts of landscape moments after.

"Hello?" Shirou called out. "You guys are still out there right?"

"We shot you in the head!" A man suddenly called out, more than a touch fearful.

"Yes and I forgive you." Shirou stated slowly, an idle glance told him that waiting for that man to respond already took a minute. "Would you all mind telling us why you want to take our wagon?"

"We heard you've been taking treasure and we want it for ourselves." The man who ordered them out of their wagon . "We wouldn't have even touched your lovers man."

"We wouldn't have?" Shirou's enhanced hearing picked up. "Isn't that the main reason why we've been following this group around? Lots of money and a nice pair of birds?"

"It was until we found out our guns don't do jack shit." The main man hissed. "We barely started, we can't afford to tussle with them."

"Hello?" Shirou called out again, idly staring at the rapidly rising timer. The bandits in this world really needed to talk faster. Either that or he needed to start interrupting conversations far faster than he usually did. That had a snowflake's chance in hell of happening though, given the fact that Shirou Emiya did not interrupt conversations. He wouldn't have survived the Grail War otherwise. "I would like to point out all the treasures we have are from very dangerous locations."

"What's your point?" The bandit leader demanded.

"I mean that the three of us, on a regular basis, invade crypts and treasure rooms guarded by nightmares." Shirou was desperately trying to get his point across, it wasn't even a matter of making his record anymore due to the fact these bandits were obviously set on dying. "Wouldn't it be prudent to think that we are very capable warriors?"

"He has a point." The bandit leader admitted and Shirou set out to save their lives.

"If you let us go we'll just go on by, we'll only report you three days from now too, so you can leave."

"Oh! Thanks, Boys un-cock those guns."

Shirou let out a sigh of relief as the sounds of lowered muskets came to his ears. They were safe now.

"You and your lovers can go on ahead, now."

"Thanks." Shirou stated cheerfully, ignoring the horrendous time he'd been assigned. He wondered why Lorelei hadn't killed them. "Oh and only Arturia's with me." Wouldn't do to set up a bad image with the public, he held the girl at his side by the waist. "Lorelei's just a friend."

There was scattered laughter around them all.

"Aye, lad." The bandit leader called out. "Rumors told you had a pretty one and an average one, but I guess you only have the pretty one, eh?"

The silence was deafening and Shirou shook his head as Lorelei left her spot in the shade and climbed to the top of the wagon.

Many screams emanated from the forest that day, and massive tracts of land were gauged by fire.

Throughout it all Shirou simply wept as he couldn't save them.

…

"There's a Guild in this town." Shirou noted as he pulled along the wagon. Decidedly earning many an odd look from the crowd. The horses had been tired due to the mad dash through the burning area, and Shirou didn't have the heart to keep them even at a slow trot after that. As such, he was now pulling along the entire wagon with a single arm as his two companions sat on the driver's seat. "Maybe we should check it out?"

"Probing for weaknesses in our opponent already, Shirou?" Lorelei stated with no small amount of bemusement. "I applaud you for your forethought."

"I don't want to make enemies with them." The red-haired swordsman protested.

"Ah, a fake friendship." Lorelei lightly teased, she was finding the action quite enjoying. "The best sort of relationships are based on betrayal."

"It is best if we make it seem as though we are allies first," Arturia mused thoughtfully, still not looking up from her sketching. The budding artist pondered if she should just have Shirou pull the wagon at all times, he decidedly lacked the sounds of beasts and the smooth ride was conducive to her newfound art. "Then our betrayal shall have a psychological aspect along with the element of surprise."

"Ah, sorry Arturia." Shirou immediately apologized, confusing the only member of the group who didn't know the blonde's true past. "I'll be sure to make sure that they know our stance on them right away."

"It was a joke Shirou." Saber stated dryly, eyeing her lover with a decidedly blank expression. Three or so years of general relaxation has done plenty on her outlook on life. "I have told you many times I have reconciled with my past."

"I do not like being left out of the loop." Stated the strongest magus in the group, and the two the participated in the Holy Grail war exchanged a look.

"Arturia went through a few betrayals from people she was close to." Shirou stated thoguhtully, eyeing Saber to finish.

"We were a people of a certain mindset, that was driven apart due to outgoing reasons." Saber agreed and Lorelei gained a thoughtful expression.

"Are these betrayers still alive?" The queen of Clock Tower questioned and Arturia gave a small scoff.

"Those loyal to me, and those that betrayed me are all dead." Shirou felt a gaze settle onto him and turned around to give a smile, only to be bemused to see two pairs of eyes following him. "I've found someone far more loyal in the return, however."

Lorelei's face was thoughtful till they reached the appraisal market, at which point it returned to the stoic visage that was rapidly becoming feared.

…

"This is the Belt of Strode!" The armored knight gushed over the wares they set. "This was thought to be lost forever in the Raven's Ravine."

"They called those giant bird men Ravens?" Shirou inquired curiously. The young man had an easier time of killing monster's, but killing the humanoid birds had disturbed him quite a bit. Not enough to hamper him of course, the walls of the ravine were covered in blood gouges.

"Aye, shopkeeper." The knight fumbled his pockets. "They are man eaters, they trespass into homes and consume women and child. They drive men to cling to the hope they simply took them to their nest where they are consumed as well."

Utilizing skills he usually reserved for stealing recipes at restaurants, Shirou jotted down the habits of the creature right next to the tasteful caricature that Saber had made. The article was more than complete now that he had a description of the creature's habits. His blonde partner was most certainly getting better and better at creating them.

"Thank you for the information." Shirou stated with a smile, his eyes met Lorelei's and the woman gave a nod. "You can have the belt as thanks for the information."

The man clad in plate armor was taken aback.

"This belt has been said to block all projectiles fired at it's wearer!" The young night gushed. "It is priceless."

"I'm sure it'll be even more priceless once it lets you create your own legend." Shirou stated with no room of disagreement. "Now let the next person in!"

The young man gave two bows as he left the small tent and Lorelei decided to voice her opinion on the matter.

"Do you not find it odd that they are so aghast at taking it, but do so at the merest of convincing?" The young woman was more than a tad annoyed at the duplicity she continued to see.

"Well we are handing out treasures unlike any other." Shirou argued. "We don't have claim towards them anyways, so it's best if we just let our reputation grow by spreading the artifacts back around."

A decidedly pale girl entered the room, her skin looking an odd shade of pink that bordered on lavender. Though it could only be makeup, as the girl was clad until her cheeks.

The girl let out a mousy squeak as Lorelei leveled a glare at her as she usually did to any who came within the tent. Those who were coming to simply amuse themselves were immediately sent packing.

Though that did not stop the two of them from being surprised as the girl produced some sort of crest from a leather pouch on her waist.

"Y-your entire group is under arrest!" The girl declared, though the intimidation factor of the entire declaration was decidedly cut short by the fact the girl immediately produced some sort of transparent barrier and cowered beneath it.

Shirou gave a sigh and palmed his face, wondering how much time and effort it would take to subvert the government of the world with excess amounts of money. While he usually didn't resort to bribing and creating a corrupt puppet government, it was a prospect easier to swallow than what Saber had planned. Sure he disliked the large number of peasantry and their poverty while many lived in luxury, but there were less extreme solutions than Saber's proposals.

Of course, there was also only a slim chance in hell he was going to be able to do as he wished in the matter. Lorelei was firmly backing Saber's plan, and was steadily transforming the efficient spells they've found into something akin to artillery.

Lorelei was bemused to find that the set of fireballs she'd been practicing dissipated into the shield, though it decidedly looked weaker after doing so.

The girl cast whatever magic she was using again, and the field returned, maybe a tad stronger than it was. Lorelei surmised it must be akin to most of the spells of the world, and that it could be casted multiple times for greater effect.

Shirou began to pack away the numerous mystical artifacts they've collected when Saber returned from her duty of procuring maps to compare to her own.

"What is going on here?" The blonde demanded, numerous amounts of parchment sticking out of what was supposed to be a bag of holding. Shirou surmised that the map shop they had heard of must be empty by now.

"It seems the enforcers of this country are curious about our magic and seek to discover our secrets." Lorelei immediately supplied, this is what usually happened so it must be happening again. The heiress was actually waiting for it to happen, testing her mastery of this world's magic against a practitioner had been quite a prospect she looked forward to. "I am now in the process of eliminating the threat whilst we escape."

"I'm packing." Shirou supplied helpfully.

The girl looked at the newcomer and her eyes widened in such relief that the three dimensional travelers paused in the set of actions that would get her killed without question.

"I am dreadfully sorry!" The girl suddenly declared. "It seems that I have been mistaken in my arrest of your group."

"Attempted arrest." Shirou supplied, it wouldn't do well for their budding reputation if the statement went akin to: the truth was found after arrest. The truth was found after attempted arrest, sounded much more intimidating.

"What were the charges against us?" Saber inquired immediately, a slight frown gracing her features.

"You robbed a town treasury a weak ago." The girl immediately supplied, hoping against all hope that they didn't.

Saber looked her partner and Shirou tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"I believe that we were escaping from skeletons with the harp thingy a week ago." Shirou stated with a slight amount of indecisiveness in his tone. Adventures tended to blend together after a few dozen of them were done right after one another.

"Yes," Lorelei supplied, she had enjoyed traversing that particular dungeon. The walls were quite indestructible and she was able to do as she pleased. "That was where we were."

"Oh, thank the gods." The girl sighed in relief, finally standing form within her defensive shield. "I am so glad that has been cleared up."

"I hardly suppose our words were the only thing that convinced you." Saber inquired with a furrowed brow. Shirou hoped that wasn't all the evidence that the girl required, because if there was problems with the justice system he'd also have to put his lot with Saber. "There must be some empirical evidence that was provided in a timely manner."

"Ah, of course!" The girl gave a nod that relieved Shirou immensely. "The blonde in their group was a man. I truly did not notice a difference until I saw you so much closer."

Silence pervaded the tent.

Saber's eye twitched, and Lorelei Barthomeloi gave a sigh as she dissipated the numerous amounts of fireballs she had summoned into existence. The two women who knew each other fairly well in the tent knew that such a faux passé couldn't simply go unheeded. The girl feeling imminent death coming, but no longer knew the reason was scared out of her wits once more. Shirou knew something was wrong, but the fact that he was a man made the situation quite puzzling.

"Arturia…" Shirou stated slowly, before a glare silenced him. Arguing with an angered Saber was never a good idea. Arguing with an angered Saber that just so happened to be a lover was even worse of an idea.

Saber leveled her glare at the poor law-enforcement official and the girl quaked in her defensive shield.

"You will take us to them so we may extract justice for their impertinence of assuming our identities." The once and future King stated imperiously, and the girl really knew she had no choice in the matter. The B rank Charisma was just overkill to be quite frank.

"Y-yes, my lady!" The official wondered as to why she addressed the black-clad girl as though she was a noble, but not nearly as much as thought was given to it as much as to why she chose this profession. She could've been a librarian, nothing bad ever happens to librarians!

"I'll pack." Shirou supplied helpfully, though a tad surprised to find he was immediately aided by his companion the last few hours. Still, he did what he knew, and that was enough for him at the moment.

…

It must be terrible to be a librarian, Waver Velvet surmised as he walked into what was supposed to be the most hallowed of prefectures in the Clock Tower organization. The massive shelves of texts were empty, and one even seemed to have been toppled over. The sight was more impressive due to the fact that most of the shelves were two stories tall.

The sounds of outrage and the feel of magic came within his radius of perception, and Waver gladly took the helmet that his aid was offering.

Holding aloft a white flag of truce, Waver Velvet walked out into the no man's land.

Waver noted his luck that the battle seemed to be in one of its slow eddies at the moment before doing what the damned Wizard Marshall foisted on him.

"Mister Timothy!" The young man entrusted by the Wizard Marshall to keep the Clock Tower in one piece called out. "Lady La Rouge! I know that the two of you are heading the opposing factions of this ludicrous debacle, I am here to settle it forthwith under the authority of the Wizard Marshall."

"There is no sort of authority out here laddie!" A gravelly voice called out from a shelf. A spry old man detached from his position, hefting what seemed to be just an oaken staff. "Even Zeltrech will never try to interfere with the Librarium's business. I suggest you let these matters be settled and come back when this 'debacle' is over."

"You're just afraid he might take our side on things." A decidedly accented voice emanated from what Waver Velvet had perceived to be a desk. The bald man leveled his staff at the voice, the monocle upon his one good eye glowing dangerously. "Put that away you old sod, we're going to settle this like distinguished individuals, unlike what you wanted."

Waver raised his hand before the two librarians could argue.

"The masses require the libraries more than ever this day." Waver used his most placating tone in an effort to diffuse the situation. Though he knew that since he was working with Magi, all he could hope for was for the fuse to get longer before the bomb went off. "I am here to settle the dispute between your two factions."

The old man immediately jabbed his stick at the girl's direction. At the close distance Waver feared the old man would hit the woman straight in the face. Then it suddenly became apparent to him that the woman was very tall, almost a foot taller than himself, and the man the opposite. The staff wasn't even in line with the woman's jaw.

"This missy here wanted to keep all the texts bound despite the fact of the new mechanics of this world!" The old man waved the staff erratically, possibly attempting to score a hit upon the girl. "She and all her friends wanted to lock the place up and conduct only their research!"

"It's for the good of the masses," The younger woman huffed, crossing her arms over her decidedly lackluster chest. "All the spells made available might not work, and kill hundreds who try them. We are saving lives in the process."

"Saving lives by limiting knowledge is an affront to the ideals of the library itself!" The old man cried. Waver's eyes widened a fraction when the bindings on the staff began to strain, feathers seemingly attempting to explode outward.

The tall, brunette leapt back, the ring on her finger glowing quite decisively.

Waver Velvet gritted his teeth, he will have his say dammit!

From the carpet rose the metallic liquid that was his Mystic Code, the hundreds of droplets he willed to follow him everywhere he went immediately binding the two librarians in steel bubbles around their torsos.

"We will talk about this." Waver Velvet declared as his mistake code brought the rest of the two factions around him. The young lord made sure to meet each of their eyes. "And you will all listen to me."

The fact that they were all trapped and ready to be killed just made that statement quite redundant.

…


	4. Chapter 4

The Clock Tower Guild.

…

Disclaimer: I do not gain currency from this.

…

"The idiots of Fairy Tail need to be taken care of…" The eldest of the table muttered, stroking his beard with a slight sigh. "We can't possibly maintain face with the world if we can't keep our mages in line."

"Well there's also another matter that needs to be discussed." One of the councilors arrayed at the massive circular table mentioned. "The means of the small Fiefdom in the south of Fiore."

"The Lassiters." The lone woman in the group stated with no small amount of disgust. "Has their king finally agreed to trade with us once more?"

A man guffawed. "That old sod's been kicked right out of his throne by someone with considerable power!"

"Hmmm… an emissary would be wise, maybe even just to survey what became of the land in the last century."

"Well it certainly sounds interesting." The youngest of the group gave a small smile that made his tattoo curl ever so slightly. "Why don't we take out two problems with one stone then? Haven't we been planning on detaining one of the S-class mages of Fairy Tail the past month?"

The elders of the table, which was practically all of them save the one young man present, exchanged bemused looks. Then, simultaneously, they all gave shrugs.

"Why not."

"It'll get her out of our hair at the very least."

"Motion carried then."

…

"I told you that we couldn't match them." Shirou wasn't usually the one to point fingers, but he'd known what was going to happen he moment he saw the ingenious design on those aprons. Now that they were all incapacitated, he could say anything he wished with impunity. The same action without the bindings would've probably resulted in serious injury.

"We had no knowledge that they had ropes capable of stopping magic." Saber pointed out calmly, though if Shirou could see her face it would be a different matter entirely. "Why are you not currently executing a method of escape, Shirou? Are you enjoying your positioning?"

Due to lack of rope on their captor's parts, Lorelei Barthomeloi was currently strapped to his chest with her chest firmly in his face. The captors apparently didn't have enough blindfolds as well. Shirou would've questioned the fact that her legs were bound against his, but seeing as he wasn't able to move he couldn't actually complain about their technique.

The only blindfold was upon Lorelei's eyes, though the smirk on her face was thoroughly annoying Saber who sat behind Shirou. The king of kings had admittedly thought that the woman was far to stern and serious to fall for Shirou, but then she forgot about herself in that matter. Still, up until that moment, it had been mostly conjectures on Arturia's part. Needless to say, it wasn't any longer.

"I can't channel Prana for Reinforcement." Shirou stated patiently, acknowledging the fact that Saber must be annoyed by the fact was set on his lap and his face was mashed against her chest. The young man narrowly escaped death by not making note of the relative lack of cleavage present, as both his traveling companions weren't particularly gifted in that area. Both women present would've mercilessly crushed him had he stated anything. "How about you Lorelei?"

Saber's eyes glimmered in hope. The narrow box they'd been stuffed in may have made Shirou's skill in ascertaining where sound came from difficult, someone speaking right into his ear would betray-

"The same goes with me." Oh, Lorelei Barthomeloi was apparently able to throw her voice, who would've thought. "These opponents are most certainly formidable in every respect, to have outmaneuvered us with such ease.

There were moments in time where Saber wasn't the absolute model of control and decorum possible. The few moments in her life as a king, and the life afterward could be counted on one hand. Even in battle the woman was able to keep calm and analyze her opponent to the lengths only Shirou dreamed of.

The current moment had a woman strapped to her lover's chest, a man impersonating her with great accuracy, and the sudden realization that she could've just said she wasn't on Shirou's lap the moment they were captured, since they were all able to speak.

In those very few moments, the blonde haired king had an enchanted wind at her command that-

"STRIKE AIR!"

She didn't even bother to let me finish narrating, how rude.

The once and future king had been planning on the air pressure causing an explosion that would make them fly out of the hatch they had been dumped into. The fact that their bindings broke from the winds would've been just a bonus to the addled king's mind. That, however wasn't the case.

The Noble Phantasm that enveloped the Sword of Promised victory could propel the user with massive amounts of speed, or utterly destroy someone of great standing during a time where a knight was practically a walking WMD. Even if they had been trapped in an armored car, the result would've been the same as the one that occurred within the trunk of the carriage driven by the three impersonators/captors.

Explode, in many chunks, everywhere.

Saber and Shirou recovered at about the same time, but Lorelei did so first due to her experience regarding very powerful wind magics. Many would question if someone ever got used to sonic booms, but when the exiled Queen of Clock Tower came into the equation, those questions tended to dry up. Mostly because it was generally acknowledged to be able to conjure those kinds of things at will. This wasn't apparent to Shirou and Saber though, so they didn't think anything odd about the powerful woman being unconscious upon him as they addressed themselves.

"B-back of she gets it!" One had to have a modicum of respect for the man impersonating the once and future King. While his companions were knocked out of commission due to the many flying pieces of wood, he had grabbed onto the girl that came with the trio of monsters. Had any normal magus been present, there would've been a second of appreciation for the man's resourcefulness. "I swear I'll stab her right in the throat!"

"You don't want to stab." Shirou stated smoothly, carrying the apparently-knocked out Queen of Clock Tower in his hands. "You want to drag the point across the jugular… no… twist your wrist a bit… yeah like that, that's very good!"

Now in the correct positioning to threaten someone the blonde haired man opened his mouth…

To get clubbed over the back of the head by the most irate person in the group. Suffice to say, the king of knights was not in the mood of providing mercy at that moment.

…

Erza Scarlett was at ends with her current assignment. A small part of her was glad that the ruling of the council was lenient, but another didn't like the prospect of leaving Fiore. Most of the S-classes of their guild did so, but she felt that she wouldn't be able to protect the guild if she took missions outside of Fiore. Granted there were plenty of close areas she was willing to go, but she didn't like being any more than two days travel from her home.

The place she was entering was most certainly did not meet her criteria of choice, especially given the fact that the country was disconnected from the rail lines that was networked throughout the continent. Travel from the guild was at least a week of travel to her destination and a week back, not pleasing her in the slightest.

However, she was looking into one of the forms of transportation to speed up her travel. A carriage service, though archaic, was better than walking. Much to her luck, one carriage was returning to the town and she had been able to requisition it with ease. At the very least, the country still took jewels as the main form of currency.

There was an explosion near the outskirts of town, she had been waiting in the marketplace, and an axle descended from the skies and made contact with her. In the usual circumstances, this would have torn a regular human's head right off. In the case of the Queen of Fairies, the axle stood no chance and broke apart in more pieces than it theoretically should have.

Quite used to such strange occurrences, Erza examined the remains. The red-haired knight came to the conclusion that must have been the carriage she had planned on hiring, simply from the fact that there was no other carriages on their way in or out of the city. That was all according to the woman in charge of them, but Erza saw no reason to distrust the woman.

Still it meant a week's travel and a week's travel was not high on Erza's list of things that needed to be done. At the top of that particular list, was actually something that wouldn't have followed a person's regular thought process, just like the situation of the axle. Most would simply start trekking, or wait for some stroke of luck in the form of a carriage arriving earlier than usual. Erza's course of action was to bring whoever destroyed the carriage to justice.

Quite honestly, one tended to jump to conclusions as to who were the bad guys. There was an officer of the country cowering near the edge of the road, a woman and a man unconscious and another man being beat senselessly by an irate little man clad in hooded robes as two others in robes watched.

All in all, it wasn't the best way to be seen by someone on the warpath with serious issues on the strong picking on the weak.

So Ezra Scarlett went along with her most common plans when such a situation was presented to her.

Swords, lots of swords.

Well no one said it was a _good _plan.

…

Shirou knew there was trouble the moment he saw the woman wearing plate armor came to view. The entire situation was easy to misinterpret, as he became quite good at explaining situations over the years. One did not stay in a relationship between two women without being unable to explain situations, or being unable to ascertain as to why the situation was odd.

The red-haired swordsman was all for explaining what was occurring actually, and he would've been successful as his opponent would've listened.

Then came a wave of swords, and Shirou Emiya just would not plain stand for that sort of bull shit. There were very few things in life that the red-haired young man wouldn't accept, and that was the fact that he'd have to fight someone that shot swords at people. The young man faced two of them in his life, the original king and himself, and he admittedly looked forward to being the only magus with the ability to do it.

Some may think this is odd, or maybe even delusional, but when one looks at the context and the fact that both of the beings he fought were essentially idealized versions of heroes… One might be able to see where Shirou Emiya gained his perspective on his fighting style.

The cause for reasoning overriding his urge to return fire wasn't helped by the fact that in any other field of magic, he was essentially the lowest of the low. That particular fact having been hammered into his skull by associates, fellow students, and even Rin.

So one could say what was about to happen would be Rin's fault, not something anyone would've questioned.

So Shirou fired his own swords in response, and was dead set on making sure that this knight knew better than to make it seem that someone was on par with him in making swords. The knight could be the greatest hero this world will ever have, but she sure as hell won't be using swords like he did if he had anything to say about it.

…

Bemused was an odd word to place upon a situation where two warriors were basically shooting swords at one another continuously. One would think terrifying would be a better fit, but both of the warriors were idealistic to a fault. That particular fact alone would have guaranteed the lives of anyone foolish enough to attempt to watch the battle, but another set of reasons were unknown to the two parties exchanging a magical swordfight.

Shirou Emiya wasn't all too keen on turning the landscape into a massive mess, he had his two companions for that sort of thing. Erza Scarlett had a limited dimensional armory, and had to 're-quip' each weapon before she fired it once more. Still both of them were continuously fighting it out and wrecking the landscape surrounding the village, to no small relief of everyone that lived within it.

Still neither one was getting a foothold on each other, and that was irritating both of the opponents enough to further action.

Shirou was sincerely between a rock and a hard place. Noble Phantasms were a pretty large issue when one's opponent was in front of a village made out of wood. A few concrete buildings, or even tone, would've allowed him to use most of his arsenal. That was not the case, and he didn't want a sword to tear right through the village.

Erza was having difficulty keeping up the weapon trade, as her swords were getting worn out. Whoever her opponent was, he hadn't been using the same methods as she was. The taller male of the group was creating them, rather than summoning them into existence. She knew she would be able to supply power, but she couldn't exactly fix her equipment in the midst of combat. The Fairy Queen needed to be able to conjure her armor for a more definitive edge.

So in a moment that made the universe shudder, both of the deluded, delusional, swordfighters began to plan.

Shirou thought along the lines of his lover, Rin, and Ezra thought along the lines of all her experience in Fairy Tail netted her.

What would Rin do against someone of equal skill against her? Shirou pondered on the question for a moment, acknowledging the fact that the woman with an infinite number of swords could match him sword for sword. He'd expected someone of the same caliber as himself would pop up, every mage did. Someone who knew your every trick was the most dangerous entity in the world, needless to say anything about someone who fought exactly the same.

What would Makarov do against someone that he needed to knock out? Ezra quizzed herself thoroughly, searching for an answer to fight her new opponent. In even the most chaotic bar brawls between solid-A class mages, Makarov was always able to enforce order in the guild with no problems what-so-ever.

Both of them settling on a plan that was sound, they charged each other and punched one another in the face.

…

"It is terrifying how similar they are." Lorelei noted as she watched the two red-haired warriors settle on exactly the same full offensive and knock one another out. The girl that they brought along immediately ran to aid the woman, as she and Arturia went to aid the downed member of their team. "Such an even matching of powers, weaknesses and strengths."

"It would be best if they never meet again." Arturia noted with an odd scowl on her face. An odd shadow passed over the blonde's face, for reason's unknown to the queen of Clock Tower. The blonde king knew much about rivalries between equals, quite a few bloomed in times of war. Adding the factor that this was between a man and woman, or more importantly, practically two Shirou's she had no doubt the results would be… odd to say the least.

Rin must never find out about this, was the thought that occurred to Saber. The king knew all too well that her 'calm' and 'logical' lover wouldn't pass up such an opportunity. The prospect of a finding a female Shirou would appeal probably appeal to her. Saber, however, had to acknowledge the fact that was downright impossible

There was no way the girl had some sort of traumatic event that marred her entire past, had a set of beliefs tied to a singular notion, or even the willingness to put her life on the line for anything she believed in. That would be downright ridiculous, maybe she'd even aspire to live just for a single person or even be the mediator in every fight. As far as Saber had seen, the people of this world may be living frugal lives, but there was certainly a lack of people with odd pasts. There was no way someone could have a life as similar as Shirou's.

Assuaged by that fact, Arturia gathered her lover and trekked to the village. The odd girl they brought along carrying the one in heavy armor with them. She hoped that there would be two inns in the small town, it was for the best that the two didn't meet for a prolonged amount of time.

Preferably forever.

…

I've hit a massive writers block for this, so this may not be updated for a while.


End file.
